Retail Trade: Trading Standards
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to support local authorities in tackling illegal trading on high streets.
Answered by Sarah Jones
In 19 May 2026, the Government announced a £30 million crackdown targeting cash intensive business such as barber shops, vape stores, mini-marts and sweet shops operating on our high streets, over three years. This includes funding of £6million for Trading Standards to bolster the response to sham businesses in at-risk local authorities. New officer training will also be rolled out to identify suspicious businesses, strengthen business compliance and boost enforcement.
The Government has also launched the cross government High Streets Organised Crime Unit, which brings together government departments, policing partners and Trading Standards to identify what more is needed – from stronger powers to better coordination – to stop this criminal activity from happening in the first place.
As part of the Government’s work on this issue, we will shortly consult on extending the duration of Closure Orders to ensure that criminal businesses can be shut down for longer where appropriate. This will help equip Trading Standards and the police with stronger tools to tackle persistent offenders and disrupt the harm they cause to communities.
Further details about the £30 million package can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-05-19/HCWS32
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